1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for ascertaining the quality of service of telecommunication services in a communication network.
Such a communication network is, in particular, a telecommunication network, for example a landline network and/or a mobile radio network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The quality of service is a common, abstract term combining parameters, phenomena, effects, impressions etc. which (generally together) determine the degree of satisfaction of a telecommunication service customer in a communication network.
The quality of service is affected by objective and subjective parameters. For the (subjectively) experienced quality of service to be ascertained by the operator of a communication network, it is possible to ascertain the quality of service experienced from test customers, who use and assess the services. The disadvantages of this are that, for a reasonable outlay, the assessment is generally not carried out for individual instances of a service being used which are paid for by the customer, but instead is carried out in and all inclusive fashion. The behavior and the assessment of the test customers is only conditionally representative of the cross section of customers for a communication network operator and require a relatively high outlay to obtain statistically significant data.
The quality of service experienced may also be determined by customer surveys, in which case the recording of individual instances of a service being used which are paid for by the customer is likewise not assessed, the outlay for implementation is likewise relatively high, and, moreover, there is the risk that customer satisfaction will be adversely affected by the survey.
The object of the present invention is the provision of methods and apparatuses which permits a meaningful quality of service assessment for telecommunication services in a communication network as easily, efficiently and economically as possible.
The invention avoids the disadvantages of the above known methods for determining the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d. Recording the quality of service at the terminal end allows a very meaningful assessment of the quality of service available at the terminal end, and hence to the customer. This permits systematic errors during recording of the quality of service to be prevented. In addition, it permits a comprehensive picture of the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d (subjectively) by customers and of the xe2x80x9cquality of service ascertainedxe2x80x9d (which is measured at the terminal end), which is more accurate than a spot check or a customer survey. In addition, quality of service can be monitored in a manner which is both continuous and has universal coverage. Systematic errors when the quality of service is recorded are ruled out if the xe2x80x9cquality of service ascertainedxe2x80x9d (at the terminal end) and the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d (subjectively by the terminal user) are recorded at the terminal end.
To ascertain the quality of service, two fundamental embodiments of the present invention are provided, which may also be combined.
In a further embodiments of the present invention in accordance with the quality of service can be input on the terminal by the terminal user to record the quality of service. For this purpose, the terminal can poll the quality of service from the user in a prescribed form (for example in a menu item and/or using selection keys etc.).
The quality of service which is input by the terminal user is called the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d below and is the quality of service which is actually subjectively perceived by the customer when using a telecommunication service in the communication network.
In this embodiment of the invention, the central station (of the service provider or communication network operator) receives a meaningful statement about the degree of a customer""s satisfaction with the particular instance of use of an individual service. Polling the customer""s subjective impressions achieves a high level of meaningfulness for the quality of service experienced. The service provider (which may be the provider of an individual service or may be the communication network operator) receives a comprehensive picture of the quality of service subjectively experienced by a customer, which is much more meaningful than spot checks or customer surveys. In addition, the quality of service experienced can be assessed in a manner which is continuous and has universal coverage. The highly differentiated statements about the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d which is determined on the basis of this embodiment of the present invention permit the service provider to react to discrepancies in the desired customer satisfaction in good time using highly differentiated measures, which prevents customers from being so dissatisfied that they communicate their dissatisfaction to further potential customers, terminate their customer association or complain.
When selecting a service provider""s measures when inadequate xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d has been established, a comparison of the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d with the quality of service (described below) ascertained may be helpful for the selection of suitable measures, possibly also in conjunction with empirical values.
Since the xe2x80x9cquality of service experiencedxe2x80x9d is recorded using the same equipment as also provides the service, there is no need for any additional quality of service assessment equipment, which means that the quality of service experienced can be recorded much more economically according to the invention than with other solutions.
A further fundamental embodiment of the invention (in particular in accordance with claim 18) relates to recording quality of service data at the terminal end by virtue of terminals themselves and/or components of the communication network recording the quality of service data, that is to say recording is carried out without any intervention from the terminal user. In this refinement of relates to recorded objectively, which permits an objective quality of service assessment for individual communication services in the telecommunication network as an alternative or in addition to the (subjectively) experienced quality of service. This permits quality of service features which have a technical basis to be distinguished from quality of service features which do not have a technical basis; those variables affecting customer satisfaction which do not have a technical basis include, by way of example, friendliness during personal contact with customers or, inter alia, expectations affected by fashion trends. Hence, the recording of quality of service data in this embodiment permits causal technical interrelations to be clarified, and hence permits optimized assessment of possible technical approaches to solutions. Ascertaining the quality of service for individual instances of use of a service on the basis of definable criteria provides the service provider with clear and complete information about the quality of service of telecommunication services actually provided for the customer. This allows targeted analysis and elimination of weaknesses with a minimal time delay and differently selectable depth of detail (regional, local, customer-specific etc.). This means that suitable, targeted technical measures can be implemented in the communication network. In addition, the objective checking of the quality of service ascertained of this embodiment permits comprehensible checking of the quality of telecommunication services which is actually achieved, and hence a checkable guarantee of service level agreements; this means that tariffs can also be structured depending on the (objectively comprehensible) quality of service, that is to say can be related to the actual quality of service in an objectively suitable manner. By virtue of the xe2x80x9cquality of service ascertainedxe2x80x9d being recorded in the terminal itself and/or in components of the communication network, no additional quality of service data recording equipment is necessary, which means that such quality of service data recording is very economical. Recorded quality of service data can relate, in particular, to one or more of the following quality of service parameters: network accessibility, service accessibility, speech quality, call termination probability, and, in the case of data services, effective transmission speed and bit error rate etc.
On the hardware side, the invention can be implemented in terminals and communication networks.